Beyond The Music: ‘There is no HR department in the music industry’
“The music industry is broken,” says Oli Wilson, founder of Beyond The Music. But he hopes the event can play a part in helping to fix it.
From rapper Aitch to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, independent entrepreneurs to label executives, hundreds of music artists, experts and politicians came together in Manchester this week to discuss the biggest issues affecting the industry – from AI and the economics of streaming, to struggling grassroots artists and venues, and misogyny behind the scenes.
Now in its second year, Beyond The Music is a conference by day, city festival by night – set up as a co-operative as a place to address the “unprecedented and urgent challenges” facing the industry, but also to showcase up-and-coming talent and support the smaller venues in a city famous for its musical heritage.
Rapper Aitch spoke to Apple Music presenter Dotty for an in conversation session at Beyond The Music. Pic: Ailish O’Leary Austin
Wilson, the founder, says the industry is struggling “across the board” – from the economic model that means “all the money’s staying at the top” in both recorded and live music, to the “imminent existential threat” of artificial intelligence (AI).
All of this feeds into a “mental health crisis”, he told Sky News. “It’s unregulated. There’s no HR department in the music industry. If you’re on tour with a band or if you’re working in a venue and you have mental health issues or perhaps you have issues with other work colleagues around you, who do you go to?”
Wilson, son of Tony Wilson, the man behind Manchester’s famous Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub, says the landscape for new artists is tougher than ever.
“There’s 140,000 new pieces of music being released every single day… coupled with the fact that it’s harder and harder for record labels to take the risks and invest in new artists and careers like they used to. It’s really difficult for grassroot musicians at the moment – and grassroots venues.
“The government are taking action to get a levy on arenas to put back into the grassroots. My belief is that it shouldn’t just be in the live context, it needs to be cross-sector – so record labels and publishing companies also should be putting into the grassroots pipeline.”
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Jen Smith, chief executive of CIISA, spoke on the misogyny panel. Pic: Anna Marsden
In the wake of the previous women and equalities committee’s misogyny in music report, released at the beginning of the year, campaigners also discussed the issues women have faced historically – and still face today.
Jen Smith, the chief executive of the newly formed Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), says the organisation will go some way to bridging the HR gap as described by Wilson.
“There’s a persistent problem with behaviours, there’s a gap in provision for dealing with those behaviours and preventing those behaviours, and CIISA seeks to address that,” she says.
The authority is not an HR body, she adds, but will be the place to call on for confidential anonymous advice and to report any concerning behaviour. “And in serious, the most complex cases, CIISA would investigate. Because we’re a 70% freelance community across the creative industries, you often have these gaps in jurisdiction, if you like, about who is the responsible body.”
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Zelda Perkins, who has campaigned against the use of non-disclosure agreements to prevent people speaking out about abuse in the creative industries, also spoke at the event.
“It’s cultural and it’s systemic,” she says. “But I do think that if legislation is there to protect people and I think if the legal sector also takes responsibility for its role in protecting powerful people to basically do whatever they want, that would make an enormous difference quite quickly.”
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Annabella Coldrick, chief executive of the Music Managers Forum, says it can be a lonely industry for artists and managers, as they are essentially “individual businesses”.
When it comes to making money from streaming and touring, she points out that streaming has “brought the recorded music business back into growth” from piracy taking hold, and that there is money to be made – “but it is very much at the top end”, making it harder for smaller artists and those working with them.
“I’m not saying everything is awful – it’s not, but it’s a hard game,” she says. “It’s a long game and it often doesn’t make money for a really [long time]. So people do it because they love it – and sometimes they get to the stage where they’ve been doing it for long enough that they’ve finally convinced enough people that there is an audience there.”
Lala Hayden was among the artists performing at venues around the city’s Northern Quarter area. Pic: Antonio Ross
Despite the serious issues, there is plenty to celebrate, says Wilson.
“It’s my belief – and this is the great thing about doing it in Manchester – that we can create localised markets that will support artistic careers. I think it is possible to create economies in an area like Greater Manchester, or across the North, which would sustain artists’ careers.”
There’s more music than there ever has been in Manchester and across the UK, he says. “We’ve had over 3,000 submissions to play festival this year. The quality of music is really high and it’s across every genre of music, which is brilliant.”
He hopes getting “key players” together will help bring about new ideas and new ways of working. “We’re here to make change.”
Entertainment
The Golden Globes kicks off the awards party tonight – and there could be a few surprises
While the Oscars bestows the film industry’s highest honours, the Golden Globes is the ceremony that gets the awards season party started.
Emilia Perez, which stars Selena Gomez and tells the story of a Mexican drug lord who changes gender, leads the nominations with 10, while postwar epic The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, has seven, and papal thriller Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, has six.
After surpassing Mamma Mia earlier this week to become the highest-grossing film ever adapted from a Broadway musical, Wicked has four nods – and seems certain to follow in the perfectly arched footsteps of Barbie by clinching the prize for cinematic and box office achievement.
The Golden Globes also celebrates TV – with The Bear, Shogun, Only Murders In The Building, Baby Reindeer, The Penguin and Monsters among the big nominees.
This year’s ceremony takes place in Los Angeles later today, so you’ll have to stay up late if you plan to follow in the UK.
Ahead of the show, here are a few things to look out for.
Musicals lead the way
Selena Gomez as Jessi in Emilia Perez. Pic: Shanna Besson/Page 114/Why Not Productions/Pathe Films/ France 2 Cinema
All singing, often dancing – it seems the world has really been holding space for musicals over the past 12 months.
Operatic musical Emilia Perez comfortably has the most nominations of all the films in the running, while Wicked, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, has been the most talked about film of the year (not least because of the viral press tour).
Both Erivo and Grande are nominated in acting categories – for Grande, it is her first Golden Globe nod for her performance as Glinda, and she competes in the best supporting female actor in a motion picture category against fellow pop star Gomez and Zoe Saldana, who also stars in Emilia Perez.
Erivo is up for the award for best female actor in a motion picture musical or comedy, alongside Zendaya for romantic sports film Challengers, Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez, Demi Moore for The Substance, Amy Adams for Nightbitch, and a breakout performance from Mikey Madison for Anora, a film about a young sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch.
Read more: Anora – the film opening the conversation about sex work
Surprise surprise
Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger’s Conclave. Pic: Philippe Antonello/Focus Features 2024
Last year’s nominations were led by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, the latter of which went on to win pretty much every award going, including best picture at the Oscars.
While the Barbenheimer buzz was fun for a while, Oppenheimer’s domination made awards season pretty predictable (and, some might say, a little dull). This year, Wicked aside, there are no such obvious contenders.
The Brutalist, which follows Brody as a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War, seems to be a favourite for best drama, as well as a best actor win for its star, and best director for Brady Corbet.
But it faces tough competition from Conclave, in which Fiennes plays a priest who has to select a new pope, as well as A Complete Unknown, starring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan. Awards voters love a biopic, after all.
In the musical/comedy category, experts for awards prediction site Gold Derby seem to be split three ways, between Wicked, Emilia Perez, and Anora – whose star Madison is also tipped to beat the likes of Erivo and Moore in her category.
Read more: The full list of nominations
Celeb spotting
Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl. Pic: Roadside Attractions
After a difficult few years, the Golden Globes are still in comeback mode.
Following an expose over a lack of diversity among members, the ceremony was held in private and boycotted by celebs in 2022 and didn’t quite fully bounce back in 2023.
Now, with a new organising body and after appearances by lots of A-listers last year, it looks set to bring some mega-watt star appeal once again.
Angelina Jolie – a favourite for best actress for her portrayal of opera singer Maria Callas in Maria – Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman, Chalamet and Moore are just a few of the big-name nominees, alongside Grande and Gomez. Pamela Anderson is also on the list – nominated for best actress in a drama for her performance in The Last Showgirl.
Read more: Ralph Fiennes on Conclave: ‘It’s not a facile takedown’
British and Irish hopefuls
Eddie Redmayne in The Day Of The Jackal. Pic: Sky UK/ Carnival Film & Television Limited 2024
And it’s not just Hollywood making up the star-studded guest list, as loads of British celebs are in the running for awards, too, from Eddie Redmayne for his performance in Sky’s The Day Of The Jackal, to Keira Knightley for Netflix’s Black Doves.
Other British stars on the shortlists include Kate Winslet (nominated in both the TV and film categories for The Regime and Lee), Gary Oldman for hit Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, Hugh Grant for horror movie Heretic, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, Colin Farrell for The Penguin, and Daniel Craig for his film Queer, based on the 1985 novella by William S Burroughs. And Erivo, too.
Robbie Williams also gets a nod for best original song for his unique biopic, Better Man – his life story told through the medium of a computer-generated monkey.
Read more: Robbie Williams on Better Man
The stars who missed out
There’s no Golden Globe nod for Paul Mescal this year. Pic: Paramount Pictures
Unlike the Oscars, the Globes covers both TV and film and also includes genre splits – with separate awards for dramas, and comedies and musicals. It means there are a lot of nominees in the running for awards.
Still, there were a few big names absent from the shortlists.
While his co-star Washington is up for a supporting award, Gladiator II star Paul Mescal missed out on a nod – as did director Sir Ridley Scott.
The original film won the best picture Golden Globe in 2001 and star Russell Crowe was nominated in the best acting category for his performance.
British director Sir Steve McQueen’s Second World War drama film Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan, is also absent from the nominations.
And while Dune: Part Two is up for best picture and best original score by Hans Zimmer, director Denis Villeneuve has not been recognised.
Read more: Paul Mescal on Gladiator II
First female solo host
Host Nikki Glaser is ready for the Golden Globes. Pic: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Yes, you read that right. While Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the ceremony several times as a double act, comedian Nikki Glaser will be the first woman to take the reins solo.
Some of the ceremony’s most memorable moments have come not from the stars, but the hosts themselves – Ricky Gervais‘s caustic takedowns of the A-listers in the audience were always a favourite.
It’s a big gig, with not just the audience to impress, but the millions who will watch and see the clips all over social media later on. Jo Koy, who hosted last year, didn’t go down particularly well.
Fortunately, this year’s show should be suitably sharp in the hands of US stand-up Glaser, a comedian who is not afraid of being savage.
“It’s the best of TV and film coming together with one common goal: to receive the love and validation they never got as children from their parents,” she said. “Sunday night is a night to celebrate TV and film, actors and directors, Xanax and tequila.”
The Golden Globes take place in LA, with the red carpet starting at about 11.30pm UK time and the ceremony starting at 1am on Monday.
Entertainment
Creatives having to be even more creative as National Theatre overhauls how it stages productions
The National Theatre is overhauling how it stages productions – as its ambitious climate targets mean creatives are having to be even more creative.
After setting itself the goal of achieving net zero as an organisation by 2030, off-stage quietly radical changes are under way.
Pic: Reed Watts
Sky News was invited to see how the theatre, based in Southbank, central London, has gone about overhauling its approach to staging productions, meeting with some of those who’ve worked on its adaptation of the much-loved children’s classic Ballet Shoes.
While critics have been full of praise for the visual spectacle on-stage, how the whole look was created required a fundamental shift in approach.
“All of the team have had to be on board with reinventing, recutting and reimagining items rather than just making them from scratch,” costume designer Samuel Wyer said.
A new resource they had to work with was the National Theatre Green Store in Bermondsey, southeast London.
The warehouse has more than 131,000 items of costume and almost 22,000 props now housed under one roof so that designers can repurpose items from previous productions to try to cut their carbon footprint.
It’s a surprisingly satisfying challenge.
Mr Wyer said they were able to “dip and cut clothes… which meant I was finding things even outside my imagination that were more perfect than I could have drawn on a piece of paper”.
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Trying to lead by example, the theatre hopes to demonstrate how the industry needn’t take a fast fashion approach to making sets, props and costumes from scratch.
“I think if it’s demonstrated that we can do things in this way that helps all of us imagine a world where we can use what we’ve got rather than new, new, new, because we need that balance,” Mr Wyer said.
“Theatre is where we come to imagine who we could be.”
Pic: Reed Watts
‘Every piece has its own little quirks’
Last year, the National set itself targets of 50% of the materials used in its productions having had a previous life, and 65% being repurposed at the end of each production.
For set designer Frankie Bradshaw, hitting those targets has meant working with a lot more repurposed furniture.
“Lots of second-hand cabinets, bookshelves,” she said. “Ordinarily [carpenters] would have been used to building from scratch following a drawing and this has been quite different.
“Every piece has its own little quirks, and they’ve had to adapt their processes to fit that way of working.”
While it’s by no means straightforward, the process is proving rewarding.
“It requires everyone to be a little bit more flexible, a little more patient, but it does mean you can end up with a product you’re a lot more proud of,” Ms Bradshaw added.
Ballet Shoes runs at the National Theatre until Saturday 22 February.
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